


sits at the curb and waits for the world

by Anonymous



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Meet-Cute, Not Beta Read, Rain, Strangers, Umbrellas, in the rain, it all takes place on the streets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28353315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Jeongin was already late for work that day — and then it had started to rain. Just his luck.Thankfully, though, someone seemed to have a solution to at least one of his problems.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Comments: 11
Kudos: 43
Collections: Anonymous





	sits at the curb and waits for the world

**Author's Note:**

> based off of a prompt that i found floating around on the internet (Eye Contact: Write about two people seeing each other for the first time), and then i created this. i hope you like it!

Jeongin ran through the streets, desperately trying to dodge the pedestrians that paid him no attention.

He _knew_ staying up last night was going to be a bad idea, and now here he was, running to his shift at the coffee shop, because he had slept through all of his alarms. Honestly, when would he learn?

Probably never, since he was impulsive as hell, but hey — it was the thought that counted.

Jumping over a stray puddle from the previous night’s rain, he watched as his reflection sailed over the glassy mirror. A habit from when he was younger — and probably one he should get rid of, seeing as he only narrowly avoided running into a street light after jerking his head back up.

Bringing himself to a sudden halt that gave even _himself_ whiplash, he bounced in place a little as he waited for the walk light to switch again, having just missed it. His luck, _seriously_. 

People began to gather around him, all waiting to get to the other side, and Jeongin let himself get lost in his thoughts. Sure, he was late, but he couldn’t exactly control traffic, now, could he? He had some time.

_I wonder what today will be like,_ he silently mused. _Maybe I’ll see that one boy with the pink and orange hair! I really should compliment him if I get the chance, his hair really_ is _impressive… ah, fuck, that might come across as too friendly, though. I guess not._

Then something wet hit his head. 

And then something else, on his shoulder.

And then one more, on his nose as he looked up at the sky in dismay.

_Are you fucking with me right now?_

Just his luck; it seemed as if last night’s rain wasn’t all that the sky had in it. The golden rust colored clouds, backlit by the yellow morning sun, raced across the sky as they slowly picked up the pace that they were dropping their raindrops. They seemed to be in as much of a rush as Jeongin was.

Well, looking at them was nice and all, but _Jeongin hadn’t brought a rain jacket with him._ He hadn’t even thought to bring an umbrella either, as he had dashed straight through the front door without much thought for a coat of any sort. The weather outside was warm, and the wind against his skin was so nice, so why would he wear a coat, really?

That thinking had gotten him here though, standing in a crowd of people as the rain gently started falling from overhead, so he really had no one to blame for this but himself.

_Maybe,_ he thought desperately, _the rain won’t fall all that hard! Maybe, it will fall lightly for a really short amount of time, and by the time it ends, I’ll already be at the coffee shop! Maybe, I_ won’t _show up to work drenched to the skin!_

The rain falling around him immediately intensified, as if whoever controlled the sky had sensed his hopes and dreams and crushed them in the palms of their hands.

_Fucking hell—_

Clenching his fists around his satchel, he glared up at the sky in betrayal. You _did this._

The sky rumbled back in response, a clap of thunder bouncing off of the tall buildings around him.

Exhaling into a pout, he looked over at the otherside of the street, where he noticed that a similar crowd to the one on his side had gathered, waiting at the yellow painted curb to walk the crosswalk. They, too, had umbrellas up and rain jackets already pulled out, a near perfect reflection of his side.

All that they were missing was the dumbass who had forgotten his rain jacket.

Feeling the rain soak his mustard shirt, he tried to shift his satchel underneath his arm some more to shield it from the worst of the rain. Not that it did much, but hopefully the contents inside of it wouldn’t get _too_ wet.

He glanced back across the street in anticipation for the cross signal to turn white, rain obscuring the signal with how far away it was.

Shaking his head slightly to get his bangs, which were now plastered to his forehead, out of his eyes, he looked down the street at the oncoming traffic, marveling at the blues, light greys and dark yellows reflecting off of the skyscraper’s windows, even through the haze of the rain.

But then the clouds parted, and a sliver of sunshine made its way down alongside the rain, in between the buildings, down, down, down, illuminating the other side of the crosswalk.

Jeongin squinted, following the light, and —

his eyes caught on someone. 

Tall, lighter hair than Jeongin’s, standing under an umbrella, face lit up by the sun. But unlike everyone else around him, who were looking down at the ground or at their phones, he was looking out.

Out at Jeongin.

Meeting his eyes, the man smiled the warmest heart-shaped smile Jeongin had ever seen, dimples shining even through the misty cloud the rain had seemed to cast on the rest of the city.

_He looked… otherworldly,_ Jeongin thought, dazed, as the rain continued to fall on and around him.

The man kept on looking at Jeongin (with his _goddamn eyesmiles_ — Jeongin felt like punching a wall), and Jeongin’s mouth kept on hanging open in partial awe, partial amazement.

Then the man seemed to snap out of his reverie, eyes flitting down at Jeongin’s wet clothes. His mouth flickered down into a small frown. Jeongin immediately wanted to do anything and everything in his power to get him to smile again.

The crosswalk must have picked then to switch, when Jeongin wasn’t looking, as the crowd around him surged forwards, pushing him with it, forwards, towards the other man, mirroring the other side, the streams of people meeting like two different rivers with two different destinations.

Even though the rain was soaking him to the core, Jeongin felt like he was heating up, like the air around him was getting gradually warmer the closer the two got, as the opposing forces of the crowds mixed and mingled and pushed the two across the road.

They kept eye-contact the entire time, Jeongin stumbling along with the people around him, who glanced at him with annoyed expressions, but he didn’t notice them. He couldn’t stop looking at the man in front of him, the man that was getting closer, and closer, and _closer—_

and then he was suddenly right in front of him, still walking, and as they passed by each other—

he smiled at Jeongin again, full force, before quickly and effortlessly transferring his umbrella over to Jeongin, and _then—_

and then he kept on walking, as if nothing had just happened.

As if he hadn’t just given a _stranger_ (because that’s what they were; if Jeongin had seen this man before in his life he would have _remembered_ it!) his umbrella, leaving himself to the mercy of the sky and the rain.

Jeongin turned his head to follow him, mouth still hanging open, hand secured around the handle of the umbrella that the man had just been holding (it was warm, his brain registered faintly), to try and do something, _anything_ , even if that meant giving him back the umbrella, or asking him why he had just given it to him, or, or doing _something—_

But the crowd that had him engulfed was resolute, not letting him turn around, as it kept him going forwards and towards his destination. His destination _away_ from the man, and towards the coffee shop.

Finally reaching the opposite street curb, he turned around, protected by the safety that the umbrella provided, watching the man’s back as he faded away in the rain and the other crowd of pedestrians around him.

The people finished walking across the street just as the crosswalk turned back, splitting around Jeongin as he continued to watch the man get further and further away from him.

Looking down at the handle that he was gripping, before up at the nylon canopy that protected him, Jeongin noticed a small sticker attached to the inside. 

Bringing it down closer to himself, he realized that it was an identification sticker, listing a phone number and saying that the umbrella that Jeongin was holding belonged to one _Bang Christopher Chan_. Huh.

That must have been the man’s name! Why he had given the umbrella to Jeongin, it was anybody’s guess, but Jeongin was grateful. Showing up to work completely soaked was the _worst_ , so this… Chan had really saved Jeongin a lot of trouble.

Plus, it was just… really nice of him to have done that. Yeah.

Jeongin continued to stand there for a moment longer, a small smile on his face, before suddenly jerking back into reality.

_Oh shit I still have work to get to oh my god I'm_ so _fucking late right now—_

He took off down the sidewalk, balancing the umbrella in his hand as he resumed his previous activity of playing a game of dodge the pedestrians. 

Maybe he’d see Chan during his shift, and be able to give him back the umbrella!

And if not, well, he could always just call him to return it. 

Jeongin smiled to himself as he continued to dash through the rain. The day, however crummy it may have started, seemed to be looking up for him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you enjoyed this, please leave a kudos and/or a comment because i need validation :D (though you can totally not do either, and that's completely fine as well)
> 
> title taken from bridget mendler's ready or not


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